29 May 2013

Catch-22

Just finished reading Catch-22 and it definitely made the list for me. In short, I feel very glad to be alive.

The title refers to the paradoxical situation that:

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a
concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and
immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr
was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon
as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more
missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't,
but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy
and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.
Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this
clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

Some people in the Quora thread mentioned that this book taught them what humor is. I think I agree? To paraphrase Kenn's words, the majority of the book slowly builds up the world by telling the humorous backstory of the many characters, then bam, the last 100 pages or so just tears the world apart and it all comes crashing down. And just as abruptly hope is restored and it ends.

Took me a while to get into the book, but it is good once you do. My favourite sections would be Milo and how he grew M&M Enterprise. Likewise a second reading would be needed to truly appreciate the subtleties in the novel.

Also similar to One Hundred Years of Solitude, I had a hard time following the world building sections. Many events of the book are told from multiple perspectives in a non-chronological order, and there's multiple events happening simultaneously. Or I'm just rusty from not reading books for too long.